How to complete the POLICY REGIME ANALYSIS · on agricultural land use planning within your area....

How to complete the POLICY REGIME ANALYSIS

David J. Connell, PhD RPP

University of Northern British Columbia

Draft version May, 2016

Strengthening Farmland Protection Assessment Toolkit

Draft May, 2016 1

Purpose

The intent of this analysis is to assess the presence and level of influence of three policy regimes on agricultural land use planning within your area. See below for a description of each policy regime: global competitiveness, farmland preservation, and food sovereignty. In the end, you will be able to answer the following questions:

To what extent is each policy regime prevalent among agricultural land use documents?

Which policy regime has the most influence? How does each policy regime influence agricultural land use decisions?

To complete the examination of policy regimes you will analyse the policy and

legislation documents identified as part of the legislative framework for your site. These types of documents are described below. The end result is a set of nine tables:

Policy regime X Names of all documents (3 tables) Policy regime X Statements from all documents (3 tables) Policy regime X Frequency of statements from all documents (3 tables)

The steps for collecting the data and completing the tables are described below. If you have access to computer software that is designed to analyse qualitative data (e.g., NVivo) then this is the most effective way to complete this analysis of policy regimes. Some of these software programs are available for free. Some training is required to learn the program. Experience analysing qualitative data will be helpful, but not necessary. Types of documents

Policy In general terms, a policy is a formal statement of intent; principles, rules, or guidelines that are designed to determine or influence major decisions or actions and all activities

Policy and Legislation documents

Names of documents

Table: Global Competitiveness

Table: Farmland Preservation

Table: Food Sovereignty

Statements




Frequency of statements





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that fall within the domain of the policy. To complete the assessment, policy documents will be identified as one of the following two types

Enforceable policy: Policy with clear statements of intent to enforce (often with penalty for failing to follow the policy)

Aspirational policy:

Policy without clear statements of intent to enforce (often with penalty for failing to follow the policy); a broad statement about desired outcomes, objectives, or activities

Note: policies are also referred to as “enabling policy,” which are policies with clear statements of intent to implement another policy (e.g., provide resources). However, it is more difficult to identify a whole policy as enabling. More often, there are clauses within a policy that are enabling. Legislation: A piece or act of legislation refers to a law (or Order in Council) enacted by a legislature or governing body. Legislation can have many purposes: to regulate, to authorise, to proscribe, to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare or to restrict. At the local level, legislation includes by-laws (bylaw), which are local laws established by municipalities as regulated by the provincial government. For our purposes, a by-law is considered part of legislation. Regulation (pursuant to Act): Regulation is a form of legislation (law) designed with the intent to regulate; a rule or law designed to control or govern conduct; creates, limits, constrains a right, creates or limits a duty, or allocates a responsibility. When listing documents in tables, it is helpful to use the following format. Integrating this format within the tables captures another level of information and helps the reader to interpret the significance (level of influence) of the document.

Acts (provincial laws), bylaws (local government laws, e.g., official municipal plan) [italicised] Enforceable policy, regulations pursuant to acts [bold] Aspirational policy at all levels [plain text] Enabling policy [underline]

Political context and policy regimes To understand how political contexts and multiple public priorities influence agricultural land use planning in Canada, and to what extent it has already had an impact, you will examine the


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interaction of three current policy regimes: global competitiveness, farmland preservation, and food sovereignty. Each of these regimes is described below.

A policy regime and its changes refer to the combination of issues, ideas, interests, actors and institutions that are involved.

Actors of agricultural policy regimes include a range of interests represented by citizens, all

levels of government, local organisations, professional organisations representing producers, farmers and ranchers themselves, unions, industry trade associations and environmental groups, among others. In Canada, the two policy regimes of global competitiveness and farmland preservation have influenced policies for several decades. The recent emergence of food sovereignty as a policy regime reflects growing public concerns about the security and safety of Canada’s domestic food supply, and may have significant implications for Canada’s global competitiveness and the conservation and use of agricultural land. Global competitiveness A policy regime of global competitiveness has strengthened over the past forty years at both the national and provincial levels, usually in the context of pressures on industry viability in the face of freer trade. An interest in global competitiveness often requires policies and strategies to successfully integrate into the global economy. A recent report on competitiveness by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food focussed on access to new markets, barriers to trade, food safety and product labelling, and market concentration within sectors. Input to this report was provided by national and regional commodity trade associations, meat and other food processors, transportation associations, and policy institutes, among others. Scholars in this field have noted that, although the membership of the agri-food policy community in Canada is strong individually, the membership is nationally fragmented and organisationally divided, as national policies do not always serve all members or geographic regions equally. For example, export-oriented policies may promote the export of raw food products at the risk of higher prices for domestic food processors. Such policies also have regional differences, where policies may benefit one region (food processing in central Canada) to the disadvantage of food producers in another region (food producers in the prairies).

Notwithstanding these internal challenges, the competitiveness policy regime continues to strengthen, as evident in the Growing Forward 2 (GF2) policy framework announced on September 14, 2012. The following words, concepts, and ideas appear in the GF2 documents and help to define the scope of the global competitiveness regime.

Key ideas from GF2: - Competitiveness and Market Growth: The sector needs to continually increase

productivity, to reduce costs and to respond to consumer demands, such as for high-value products with specific attributes. Competitiveness also means increasing our share of domestic and international markets.

- The key drivers are: o Innovation: The sector adopts and implements new technologies and innovations,

creating and using knowledge to develop new products, technologies and business


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management practices that drive down costs, increase productivity and respond to consumer demands.

o Institutional and Physical Infrastructure: Effective rules, regulations, standards, organizations, and physical infrastructure allow firms to operate and markets to function efficiently for a profitable sector and the well-being of Canadians.

- Competing on cost: One factor in assessing the competitiveness of Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector is how cost-efficient Canadian agricultural producers, manufacturers and exporters are in relation to competitor suppliers. This is influenced by a number of factors, including natural resource availability and use, input prices, labour availability and cost, and scale of operation.

- Innovation is critical for improved cost competitiveness. Innovation can lead to improved productivity and reduced costs. However, despite significant agricultural research, the sector could be more effective in applying knowledge and innovating along the supply chain.

- Focus on the role of innovation for productivity growth and the ongoing efforts to access emerging growth markets.

- Continual innovation and adaptation has contributed to increased yields and the creation of new products and production methods

- Increased trade, globalization of supply chains, and more exacting consumer demands have increased the importance of rules, regulations, and other market infrastructure

- Additional industry capacity and infrastructure investments, such as information and communication technologies, will be required to enable producers, processors, buyers, and government agencies to adjust effectively to new food safety regulations and buyer assurance standards.

- Bilateral and multilateral trade agreements and trade promotion efforts are essential. Food sovereignty For this assessment, we use food sovereignty in a broad sense that focusses on the right of citizens to have greater control over its food supply. The term encompasses food security and food safety. Food security is concerned about the availability, accessibility, and affordability of food. While the control of food supplies were among the earliest drivers of nation-building and human settlements, food sovereignty, as defined by the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty, is about the right of peoples to define, protect and regulate domestic agricultural production and land policies that promote safe, healthy and ecologically sustainable food production that is culturally appropriate. Within Canada, the growth of the local food movement, as evident by the increasing number of farmers markets and citizen-based initiatives like community gardens and local food councils, has been the forerunner of recent calls for citizens having greater control over national agri-food policies. Adopting agri-food policies that promote greater food sovereignty could easily reach into people’s daily lives, with economic, social and environmental implications, both positive and negative. Such policy will be regarded quite differently depending on a person’s values and priorities, and where agriculture fits among them.


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Farmland preservation Different terms are used in this policy regime including farmland conservation, farmland preservation, and farmland protection. For our project we will use farmland protection and farmland preservation in two specific ways:

Farmland protection: a narrower term that we will use to refer specifically to land use planning policies that aim to protect farmland so that it is available for farm uses; we will use farmland protection in relation to the contents of a legislative framework.

Farmland preservation: is a broader term that concerns all aspects of policies related to farmland including policies that not only protect farmland but are also concerned with soil and landscape conservation, etc.; can be synonymously with farmland conservation; we will refer to all that is related to farmland preservation as a policy regime.

As a policy regime, preserving farmland first garnered serious public attention in Canada in the early 1970s with most provincial and local jurisdictions having some form of legislation or guidelines in place by the end of the 1970s. The historical development of farmland policies in Canada were accompanied by a wide range of economic, environmental, and social issues that were associated with and re-inforced tensions among different land uses, such as residential, commercial, industrial, and natural resource development.

Correspondingly, motivations for preserving farmland are influenced by factors such as food production, market value for land, environmental issues, amenity of rural landscapes, agrarian ideals, and land use conflicts on the urban fringe. In spite of efforts over the past forty years, Canada has experienced a continual loss of prime farmland across the country. The issue is especially acute in Ontario, which contains the country’s largest supply of prime agricultural lands, but concerns for the preservation of farmland exist across the country, albeit to varying degrees. Farmland preservation is also acute in other jurisdictions due to a much more limited and declining agricultural land base, such as in British Columbia, Quebec, and Newfoundland.

Concern about the loss and fragmentation (parcelisation) of farmland continues to be an issue in the face of continued urban sprawl and alienation of farmland (i.e., farmland that is not being farmed or no longer suitable for farming). These issues often lead to further problems, such as conflicts or tension with residential, recreational, infrastructure, and industrial land uses. Loss of farmland is often associated with concerns about the supply of local food and, increasingly, it is concerned with “land grabbing” through foreign or out-of-province ownership of land.


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Summary of key concepts and themes The following table presents a summary of key concepts and themes that define the ideas within and scope of issues associated with each of the three policy regimes that you will analyse. These concepts and themes will guide your analysis of the policy and legislation documents. Policy regime Key concepts and themes Global competitiveness - Global: export orientation; increased trade; integrate into global

economy; increased share of international markets; globalization of supply chains; bilateral and multilateral trade agreements (free trade)

- Competitiveness: increase productivity, yields; investment in technology, research and development (often biotechnology; often related to innovation); reduce/eliminate barriers to trade; cost effectiveness (in relation to global competitors)

Food sovereignty - Right of Canadian citizens to have greater control or influence

over its food supply; the right of peoples to define, protect and regulate domestic agricultural production and land policies that promote safe, healthy and ecologically sustainable food production that is culturally appropriate

- Encompasses food security and food safety o Food security is concerned about the availability,

accessibility, and affordability of food - Often associated with local food movement

o Related to initiatives like community gardens, farmers markets, and local food councils

- Often associated with limited supply of local food (e.g., three days of food in grocery stores)

Farmland preservation - Related terms: farmland conservation, farmland preservation,

and farmland protection - Concern about loss and fragmentation (parcelisation) of farmland,

as well as soil degradation, rural amenity, and landscape. o Threat of urban sprawl o Alienation of farmland (i.e., farmland that is not being farmed

or no longer suitable for farming) - Conflicts or tension with residential, recreational, infrastructure,

and industrial land uses - Often associated with supply of local food, farmers markets, and

small-scale agriculture - Increasingly concerned with “land grabbing” and foreign

ownership of land


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Collecting the data The ‘data’ for the analysis include all of the statements (concepts and themes) related to the three policy regimes that appear in the policy and legislation documents of your local legislative framework. (Note: you do not have to analyse the provincial-level documents.) This step in data collection involves identifying the relevant policy regime statements within each document. This dataset includes statements from the policy and legislation documents included at the local and, if applicable, regional or upper-tier level. The documents may also include relevant governance documents (e.g., agricultural advisory committees or area planning commissions). Identifying relevant statements When looking for relevant statements in each document it is important to keep in mind the purpose of the content analysis, which is to assess the presence and level of influence of the three policy regimes on agricultural land use planning within your area. With this in mind, the easiest way to examine each document is to look first for explicit and directly relevant statements to each policy regime. A list of key concepts and themes associated with each policy regime is provided above. In contrast to this approach, you want to avoid analysing all of the content of each document. That is, be selective. Keep in mind that it is possible that one single statement can refer to more than one policy regime. Also, it is important to keep the data for this content analysis distinct from the data for the analysis of the quality of the legislative framework. You will use the same policy and legislation documents for both analyses but the specific content will be different. As a general rule, there should be very little overlap between the statements in each dataset. One possible area of overlap is regulations. It is expected that agricultural land use regulations will be related to farmland protection; however, these need to be recorded in the policy regime dataset only if they content explicit statements to a policy regime. For example, the following regulation would not be included in the policy regime dataset:

That a buffer of 25m be maintained But the following statement would be included in the policy regime dataset:

In order to preserve farmland a buffer of 25m will be maintained When looking for relevant statements it is also important to maintain a focus on the three policy regimes. It is expected that many of the documents you examine will include broad statements about building healthier communities, maintaining the rural character and amenities, being stewards of the environment, sustaining resources, supporting a vibrant economy, and encouraging a viable agricultural sector, etc. None of these statements on their own is directly relevant to any of the policy regimes, and it is possible that such broad goals are relevant to all policy regimes. In this sense broad statements like these do not belong in the policy regime dataset. However, it is important to track these statements as part of our overall analysis as these statements set the context for agricultural land use planning. These can help describe the state of agricultural land use planning in your area.


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Another way of thinking about whether a statement is relevant is to distinguish between a direct reference to a policy regime and the possible motivations for a policy. For our purposes, the motivations would be part of the context but not the policy regime. For example, “access to land for farmers” might be a motivation for any one of the policy regimes. Such a statement can be recorded in the policy regime dataset if access to farmland for new farmers is tied directly to a policy regime. Finally, in keeping with the approach to look for statements directly related to policy regimes you should also avoid “reading into” a statement. Using the above example, it is possible that access to land is associated with farmland protection but in order for such a statement to be recorded in a policy regime dataset it must be tied directly to a policy regime. That is, there is no need to interpret possible meanings and associations for any statement; examine only what is stated explicitly. Note: whenever possible, compare current documents to older versions noting any substantive changes. You do not need to do a complete content analysis of the older version. Compiling the data in tables This step in the data collection process requires you to document the presence and influence of policy regime statements for each document. The statements that you identify should be organised in a way that makes retrieving and analysing the data easier. For this purpose, use the DATA TABLE templates provided to compile the data. Note: you may prefer to record these data using the same table structure in an Excel spreadsheet. For each document you will have three tables; one table for each policy regime. When completed, these tables show the results of your analysis. Creating separate tables will make it easier to compare the statements for each policy regime. When completing the tables it is important to keep in mind that the overall aim is to assess the presence and level of influence of each policy regime in your area (refer to the example in Table 1). For this purpose, the data table is designed to reflect the context of each statement. When analysing each statement, you must assess the context of each statement using the following two factors.

Level of influence Place of the statement within the document

Level of influence

For the assessment, you are to categorise statements as being of high, medium, or low level of influence. Whereby, level of influence is a combination of how the statement is presented and the type of document in which it appears. With regard for presentation, a statement of higher influence would be one that has clear and explicit, appears among a short list of priorities, or represents a dedicated section in the document, or a combination thereof. Correspondingly, also consider the strength of language and level of detail. For example, is the statement associated with language that reflects a strong commitment or concern? Consider also whether the statement is only a brief mention (less important) or elaborated within a paragraph with


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supporting statements (more detail). With regard for type of document, consider the purpose of the whole document: is it enforceable or aspirational? For example, a statement from a legislation document has a higher level of influence than a statement in an aspirational policy. Placement of statement within the document Where a statement appears within a document is very important. That is, a statement that appears as its own heading in bold text at the start of the document is far more influential than a statement that appears in a footnote in an appendix. To distinguish different levels of significance associated with each statement, you are to assess each statement according to the following four categories, in order from most to least significant.

1. Aims, Goals, Objectives 2. Mission, Vision, Mandate, Purpose 3. Driving issues, concerns 4. Action items

The following are two general rules to help you assess each statement:

a) A statement in an enforceable document will be of high influence. Weak placement, strength, and detail may reduce the statement to medium influence.

b) A statement in an aspirational document will be of medium influence. Weak placement, strength, and detail may reduce the statement to low influence.

Analysing the data by policy regime After you have compiled all of the data in tables, the next step is to analyse the data. For this you will shift your focus from reviewing the statements in each document to looking at the set of statements that are relevant to each policy regime. This step in the analysis requires you to document the presence and influence of the statements for each policy regime. The instructions for completing the policy regime analysis are presented below. Use the following templates:

TABLE: POLICY REGIME X STATEMENTS TABLE: POLICY REGIME X NAME of DOCUMENT TABLE: POLICY REGIME X FREQUENCY


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Table 1. Criteria for determining level of influence Placement (significance) within Document

Aims, Goals, Objectives

Mission, Vision, Mandate, Purpose Driving issues, concerns Action items

Leve

l of i

nflu

ence

High influence A clear, explicit statement as

part of a short list (three to five) of items in an enforceable

policy or regulation

A clear, explicit statement at the highest level of an enforceable

policy or regulation

Medium influence A clear, explicit statement as

part of a short list (three to five) of items in an aspirational

policy

A clear, explicit statement at the highest level of an aspirational

policy

A clear, explicit statement as part of a short list (three to five)

items in a policy

A clear, explicit statement as part of a short list (three to five)

of items in a policy

Low influence A clear, explicit statement as

part of a long list of items in an aspirational policy

A clear, explicit statement as

part of a long list of items in an aspirational policy

A clear, explicit statement as part of a long list of items in a

policy


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DATA TABLE [name of site]

[name of document] [enforceable, aspirational, or enabling]

GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS Vision, Goals, Objectives,

Recommendations Driving Issues, Concerns Regulations Action Items

Lev

el o

f Inf

luen

ce

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence


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FARMLAND PRESERVATION Vision, Goals, Objectives,


Lev

el o

f Inf

luen

ce

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence


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FOOD SOVEREIGNTY Vision, Goals, Objectives,


Lev

el o

f Inf

luen

ce

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence


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Instructions: POLICY REGIME X STATEMENT tables This analysis of the data centres on the statements that were collected from all of the documents. The aim is to portray what themes are included in the political context and how each statement contributes to defining/constructing the political context at the local level. Use the data tables completed for each document. Complete one table for each policy regime. You will have four tables. Use the POLICY REGIME X STATEMENT template to complete the analysis. For each policy regime: 1. Review the content analysis of each document for the relevant policy regime. 2. Base your analysis on statements that meet the following criteria:

a. At least one statement from an enforceable document with either medium or high influence

b. At least three statements from an aspirational or enabling document with high influence

c. At least five statements from an aspirational or enabling document with medium influence

3. For each cell in the table, insert key words that represent each theme (to be refined as we move forward)


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TABLE: POLICY REGIME X STATEMENT [name of site]



Lev

el o

f Inf

luen

ce

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence


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Lev

el o

f Inf

luen

ce

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence


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Lev

el o

f Inf

luen

ce

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence


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Instructions: REGIME X NAME of DOCUMENT tables For these three tables (one table for each policy regime) you will place the name of each document in the tables. The aim is to show the relative significance of each document. The aim is to identify how each document (as a whole) contributes to defining/constructing the political context at the local level. Use the data tables produced for each document as the basis for the assessment. Complete one table for each policy regime. You will have three tables. Use the POLICY REGIME X NAME of DOCUMENT template to complete the analysis. For each policy regime: 1. Review the data tables for each document. 2. For each column, assess the highest level of influence that best describes the document and

place the name of the document in the corresponding cell. This is most likely to be in the cell with the most statements. For example, if the document has only a couple of statements in the Aims-Goals-Objectives/High-Influence cell and a significant majority of statements Aims-Goals-Objectives/Low-Influence cell then write the name of the document in the cell with the Aims-Goals-Objectives/Low-Influence cell.

3. Within each cell and for each document named, identify whether the document is aspirational, enforceable, or enabling. Use the same format that we have used elsewhere, as follows:

Acts (provincial laws), bylaws (local government laws, e.g., official municipal plan) [italicised] Enforceable policy, regulations pursuant to acts [bold] Aspirational policy at all levels [plain text] Enabling policy [underline]


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TABLE: POLICY REGIME X NAME of DOCUMENT [name of site]



Lev

el o

f Inf

luen

ce

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence


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Lev

el o

f Inf

luen

ce

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence


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Lev

el o

f Inf

luen

ce

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence


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List of all policy and legislation documents analysed [name of site]

Abbreviation Formal name of document Full citation Website location (URL)


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Table: Policy regime X frequency of statements Complete one table for each policy regime. You will have four tables. Use the POLICY REGIME X FREQUENCY template to complete the content analysis. Instructions For each policy regime: 1. Review the data tables for all of the documents for the relevant policy regime. 2. For each cell in the data table, count the number of statements that appear in all documents. 3. In each cell in the POLICY REGIME X FREQUENCY table, indicate the number of times

a statement was made that corresponds to that cell.


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TABLE: POLICY REGIME X FREQUENCY [name of site]

GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS Vision, Goals,

Objectives, Recommendations

Driving Issues, Concerns Regulations Action Items

Level of Influence

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence

FARMLAND PRESERVATION Vision, Goals,



Level of Influence

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY Vision, Goals,



Level of Influence

High Influence

Medium Influence

Low Influence

How to complete the POLICY REGIME ANALYSIS · on agricultural land use planning within your area....

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